projects - IREASHIAhttps://www.ireashiamonet.com/blog/Fri, 20 Apr 2018 20:32:57 +0000en-USSite-Server v6.0.0-17058-17058 (http://www.squarespace.com)Portraits from JamaicaIreashia MonétTue, 14 Mar 2017 04:49:46 +0000https://www.ireashiamonet.com/blog/2017/3/13/portraits-from-jamaica58863790d2b85712b9da8739:588641c9ff7c505d7c1769a6:58c70e37b8a79bf5b537a0a6Paradise Plantation is a documentary photography project which focuses on
the destructive and neocolonial impact tourism has on Jamaica’s local
economies as told through the perspective of working-class Jamaicans.

Paradise Plantation is a documentary photography project which focuses on the destructive and neocolonial impact tourism has on Jamaica’s local economies as told through the perspective of working-class Jamaicans. Through visual representation, this project aims to contextualize the ways in which tourism reinforces and perpetuates cyclic poverty, labor exploitation and unequal relations of power established during colonial-era Jamaica. By way of audio interviews and portraiture, I ask subjects to share how tourism shapes their reality in hopes of conceptualizing the residual effects of colonialism in modern-day foreign tourism.

In Fall of 2015, I embarked on an independent field research project in the fishing village Bluefields, Jamaica to study this issue. During this time, I began the foundational work to gather primary and secondary sources which supports Paradise Plantation. In preparation of my ethnographic field research, I consulted secondary sources such as Angelique V. Nixon’s academic text Resisting Paradise: Tourism, Diaspora, and Sexuality in Caribbean Culture, Esther Figuroa’s documentary, Jamaica for Sale (2008), and Jamaica Kincaid’s novel A Small Place. These works, in addition to countless academic articles that criticized exploitative tourism, highlighted a need for an oral history document looking at labor exploitation in Jamaica.

Since 2015, I have supplemented this background knowledge with two short-term stays in Jamaica which illuminated my understanding of tourism’s complexity and how it functions in the country. During this time, I conducted research and numerous interviews with low-income and working-class Jamaicans whose livelihood depended upon foreign tourism. Seven people in total allowed me to interview and photograph them. I spoke with farmers, fishermen, and hospitality workers who represented an essential piece of Jamaican society yet were not presented with righteous economic resources. Many of the men and women I spoke with worked on the margins of society, getting work whenever and however they could. They allowed me to see Jamaica and tourism through their eyes. These portraits barely touch the surface.

]]>Portraits from JamaicaThe Pearls My Mother Gave MeIreashia MonétMon, 13 Mar 2017 21:24:40 +0000https://www.ireashiamonet.com/blog/2017/3/13/the-pearls-my-mother-gave-me58863790d2b85712b9da8739:588641c9ff7c505d7c1769a6:58c703f11e5b6c87cd96e987Photographed mostly in Trenton, SC, I revisit the birthplace of my
great-great grandmother to reconnect with black southern life and my
ancestral origins. I combine photo, video, and audio to create an oral and
visual documentation of the healing properties of the rural south and the
process of understanding my maternal family history.

The trauma my mother and grandmothers experienced has traces in my life in ways that go beyond the physical and agitates the spiritual. For many of us, trauma starts at home. We grow up in homes where fragile masculinity and toxic love reign as femininity is controlled and constrained. We were either consumed by silence or fought against it. "The Pearls My Mother Gave Me" is an ongoing exploration of generational trauma, the residual influence of abuse in the lives of the women in my family and my personal fight toward radical healing. The pearl, a gem associated with femininity and softness, symbolizes both the spiritual gifts -- strength, resilience, faith -- as well as the trauma I inherited from my foremothers. I use my camera to explore the long-term psychological and physical effects trauma has on the body, mind and spirit as well as the ways in which my foremothers have healed from it.

Photographed mostly in Trenton, SC, I revisit the birthplace of my great-great grandmother to reconnect with black southern life and my ancestral origins. I combine photo, video, and audio to create an oral and visual documentation of the healing properties of the rural south and the process of understanding my maternal family history. In doing so, I actively preserve what little I still have through photographs, oral history to trace the ancestral blood memory which binds us. This memory is revealed through spiritual experiences, love, and an inherent fight to survive. The result is a raw and honest body of work that simultaneously celebrates and examines the complexity of motherhood, black queerness, and an intrinsic fight toward liberation.

]]>The Pearls My Mother Gave MeIn Collaboration with Viktor LeIreashia MonétFri, 10 Mar 2017 20:24:00 +0000https://www.ireashiamonet.com/blog/2017/3/13/k40hwkogs5gri0c0a3jy79qyrft8et58863790d2b85712b9da8739:588641c9ff7c505d7c1769a6:58c70e3fd1758e93fff5350eIn February 2015, I collaborated with interdisciplinary artist Viktor Le
for the first time. These are the result of 2 years of photographic
collaborations for his Thesis project, "Dreaming South."

In February 2015, I collaborated with interdisciplinary artist Viktor Le for the first time. These are the result of 2 years of photographic collaborations for his Thesis project, "Dreaming South."